- It’s generally defined as
the maximum amount of oxygen you can use, or have in your lungs at any one
time.
- It’s generally measured by
scientists in millilitres per kilogram of bodyweight per minute, but it’s
more commonly given in litres per minute.
- The average male athlete
has a lung capacity of approximately 3.5 litres per minute, though this is
by no means near what human beings are capable of. The average adult human
can hold 6 litres of air in their lungs, it’s just that they don’t use all
of that space in normal breathing. A notable exception to this rule is Spanish
cyclist Miguel Indurain (pictured below) who is documented as having had a
lung capacity of 7.8 liters per minute.
This has fairly obvious applications for singers as the
larger your lung capacity, the easier it’ll be for you to hold out notes and
keep singing for longer without taking breath. But what is it that stops people
from maximising their lung capacities?
Without getting too technical, there are
two things that can potentially restrict your lung capacity other than just not
being able to breathe in as much air. Firstly, the oxygen itself actually needs
to make it to the muscle tissue that requires it (this is less of a concern for
singers than it is for athletes) and secondly, the muscle tissues that get the
oxygen need to be able to convert the oxygen they receive into energy. Failure
to do both of these things can result in a reduced oxygen capacity, and this
has obvious consequences e.g. increased likelihood of getting stitches while
exercising, shortness of breath etc..
Now you know what it is, how can you improve your lung
capacity?
The most common ways of improving lung capacity are all
based around doing either normal cardiovascular exercise e.g. swimming, or intense
sessions exercise for a short period (usually around 5 minutes), then taking a
short break to recover and then doing it again.
All the various kinds of interval training are a very good example of
this.
However, given that not all singers will want to commit the time and
energy required for doing loads of regular exercise, I’ve detailed a relatively
pain free exercise I use regularly that should allow you to increase your lung
capacity below. If this one isn’t to your liking, there are plenty of different
approaches to achieving a larger lung capacity out there, all it takes is a
quick google search to find one that works for you.
Mississippi Meditation Exercise
1) Sit down, put on some relaxing music or a favourite
album. Not TV or anything visual, it’s too distracting and detracts from your
ability to do the exercise as it draws too much attention.
2) Close your eyes, meditate and sit for 10 minutes
without any specific goal, breathing through your nose and out your mouth,
steadily and regularly.
3) While still relaxed, and without any over exertion or
hyperventilating, take in a deep breath and hold it. Begin counting. Obviously,
a regular count is what’s needed for the purposes of the exercise –I find using “1, Mississippi, 2, Mississippi,
3, Mississippi” works for me but use whatever works for you, as long as you can
ensure your count is regular, otherwise you lose the point of keeping the count.
4) Make note of what number you reached when you could no
longer hold your breath.
5) Repeat regularly, keeping records of how well you did.
I usually do this exercise 2 or 3 times in one sitting with ten minute gaps in
between, as I find that I do better on the 2nd and 3rd tries.
Over time you will notice a gradual increase in the number you reach, and this
should directly translate into an increase in your lung capacity.
A couple of examples of how to translate increased lung
capacity into songs…
The Lightbearer- Aeternum
Listen from 1.34 - I had no idea what to do for that section of the verse and decided a long scream would be cool, and my increased lung capacity lets me do it in between the verses just as easily live, assuming I haven't been abusing my throat before the show.
Darkness It Shall Be- Marduk
Just listen to what Legion's singing, and try and see where he takes breaths. It's mindblowing, especially given it's in a live situation.
For the more academic amongst you, this article is an
interesting examination of lung capacity in singers and provides a good source for finding further reading:
-E
